I started this post on February of 2016. Yep. I didn’t finish it because it didn’t seem powerful enough. Like I said yesterday, I suffer from “paralysis by analysis” in most areas of my life. I sit and think, and overthink, and think some more. Then, I’ll ask one person for their opinion, then another, then another. At that point, I’ll convince myself that what I wanted to do in the first place is good enough. Rinse. Repeat.

But now I’m just going to share more. Half thoughts. Incomplete thoughts. The “gist” of certain thoughts. My hope in doing that is to start dialogue with all of you. I don’t expect my posts to be the *hard stop* of any of my thoughts. I started this blog to create a conversation with all of you! So, here’s to starting that two-way street again.

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As a trainer, my greatest goal is to prove to the athletes that I coach just how powerful they really are capable of becoming! Given that I’ve coached thousands of athletes, I’ve notice some trends. First, a woman who walks into the gym for the first time and considers herself “out of shape” is usually MUCH harder on herself than a man who walks into the gym for the first time. What happens next, though?

Through a supportive community, consistency in their effort, and a bit of decent coaching, in no time at all the confidence of the woman (re)appears. The empowerment they gain from an increased sense of accomplishment and independence, the belief that they’re capable of so much more than they had imagined, the desire to uplift and encourage others around them…. on average, I notice female athletes adopting those traits far more rapidly than men.

Many of us can quickly think of several “top performers” at our gyms. Often times, they might be the men who can lift the most weight, or run the fastest. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, if we stop and think about who creates the heartbeat of each individual box, of our unique CrossFit community, I’ve found most of these core members are women. Like most of us, they’ll be struggling through a workout but they’ll see a friend struggling across the gym and shout a few words to keep them moving. They might be done first, but they’ll rarely clean up and leave without cheering on their colleagues. In this world of ours, I don’t think it should be about thinking, “how good am I”, but rather, “how good can I make this place, this secondary family of mine?” Women do that more often than men.

It may seem like a blanket statement, but I’m just saying what I’ve seen. Women, in so many aspects of “American” culture, are almost trained to view themselves as underdogs or “less-thans”… but I’ve found that through helping these individuals see just how powerful they are, barriers are knocked down in their own heads and this new sense of strength is transferred into every other area of their lives.

To quote Queen B: “Who run the world? Girls!”

The next time you’re in the gym, look around. Look for that “eye of the tiger” stare in your fellow classmates. Remember that “beast mode” isn’t just defined by who lifts the most or moves the fastest. The individuals who inspire others around them the most are typically the ones who push on when things get tough. They’re the ones who never quit.

“Hey, maybe knock that down 10 lbs and focus on staying tight at the bottom of your clean.”

“You could go Rx, or you could go a little lighter and finish in the suggested time domain.”

“Sorry, I know you thought it was a PR, but you didn’t stand all the way up before dropping the bar.”

Just a few of the examples of things I say on a regular basis to athletes in class. Over time, I’m able to create pretty meaningful relationships with most of the people that I coach (thankfully), but there’s always a certain few who refuse to take advice or listen to the suggestion of the person directing the group.

I’m sure there have been times where a coach is jealous that an athlete can out-perform them. Or times where athletes feel like the coach is insulting them by suggesting a lighter weight, or requesting and increased range of motion. I, however, am not one of those coaches who participates in either one of those games. The eye rolls, the weight or movement selection out of spite, the sighing and being bitter for a few days… it doesn’t help anyone!

My job is to help you get better. My goal is to keep you healthy. My responsibility is to not let you do something that could get you hurt. So when I’m leading a class and make a comment to you about slowing something down, or being more in control, please don’t be offended. Talk to me if you have any questions, ask me to video a rep or two and show you what I’m talking about (I’m a very visual learner), or respectfully tell me you’re going to do it anyways. But please don’t think I’m ever trying to hold you back. I’ve been doing this for a long time (in comparison to a lot of people in the CrossFit Game), and have one thing in the forefront of my mind each day… to be able to walk out of the gym and say, “Nobody died!”

As a rule, I’d always rather you go a little lighter and practice perfect form in workouts than “going for it” and risk getting hurt. Besides… almost none of us are going to the Games. We’re doing this fitness thing for fun, to stay healthy, and to look better naked. Get a time that’s 20 seconds slower to put up on the white board, but walk out of here on your own, knowing you did everything right!

I’ve tried to start writing on my blog again at least once per week for the last…. eight or nine months. Every time I start a post, however, I get paralyzed. I wonder whether or not what I’m writing is good enough. Whether or not I use commas in the right places. (I don’t, by the way.) Whether or not people will like what I have to say.

You know what? When my writing was at it’s peak, and when the highest number of people were checking in every day, I didn’t care about any of that. I just wrote to write. I just started blogging because I had something to say. Something I wanted to share. Sometimes I learned. Or my favorite posts, somethings I wanted to learn from all of you!

The sense of community we started here many years ago has been lost, and I really miss it. So, for the seventeenth time….THE BLOG IS BACK!!!

My good friend Broderick always told me that to get better at writing, you write. Every. Single. Day. No matter how little, just do it.

Here’s to trying!

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MOMENT OF AWESOMENESS is a segment on my page where I share things I’ve come across online. Typically, it’d be a video I saw on Facebook, and now Instagram, too. Since we woke up to snow here in Colorado this morning, and then my friend Erin shared this video with me, it seemed like a perfect time for me to post this one!

One of my favorite Snowboard segments I’ve watched was this one from JP Auclair (RIP) from the movie All.I.Can.

I’ve watched it at least once every winter since I saw it 6 years ago, and the video I saw today was inspired by this same epic run through the streets of Nelson, B.C. It was so great because I could tell in the first few seconds of the video that it was the same neighborhood!

Tom Wallisch crushes this video, entitled “Imagination”, as he follows in JP’s footsteps and makes the world his playground. I think my favorite scene is when he does a gate-stall on the fence, closes the gate, rides down a huge rail, then grabs the handle of the car for a lift, only to wall ride on the mural that was used in JP’s scene, which has had many more colorful birds added to it! When he does, the parents in the car comment on how it’s nice that something is finally being done with the mural. So great!

(Side note: does this remind anyone of Danny MacAskill’s Imaginate video?! Kids daydreaming of awesomeness, in mountain towns, while adults go on with their boring lives, none the wiser. Just sayin…)

Regardless, this video brought a smile to my face, and I hope it brings one to yours, too!

I’ve always considered myself a “people person.” Does that mean I can capture the attention of an entire room with my stories? No. Does that mean I’m everyone’s favorite “date” to their work events because they know I’ll never be standing alone in the corner being shy while they run off and try to engage with their boss? No. Does that mean I’ve had so many incredible life experiences that I can relate to anyone on anything they want to talk about? Also, no.

What I mean by calling myself a people person in this context, is that I think my tolerance for, and interest in, people is pretty high. Given the years I’ve spent working in the “Service Industry” and the way I was raised (to genuinely care about people and give nearly everyone the benefit of the doubt), I am always trying to engage with people… often complete strangers, and trying to learn from them. Sometimes it has lead to me giving people “too many chances” in my personal life, but at the end of the day, I would rather accept more, rather than less, people. I think this showed through my coaching of CrossFit. We are all SO different and I don’t expect athletes to come into the gym every day genuinely excited to put themselves through some form of torture. Hey, you’re there, and that’s the hardest part! But does that mean that just because you give me your best “RBF” while I tell you there are 100 Thrusters in the workout that I’m going to ignore you for the rest of class because I think you’re mad? Nope! Instead, I’m coming in for the real thing and doing whatever I can to try and CONNECT with you anyways. That’s what always drove me. To try and build MEANINGFUL relationships with people through a few hours of fitness each week.

As I psychology major in college, I learned something that has stuck with me for a long time. That’s the fact that if there’s one thing most humans love, it’s hearing themselves talk. Not the sound of your own voice playing back in front of you… most of us HATE that, I just mean having someone there who wants to be there and connect with you. So, when I meet someone new, I’ll often try to ask them questions about things that excite them. Their hobbies, their families, what they do for work… it may sound like Conversation: 101, but it typically works fairly well. When people feel like you actually care about them, most of the time they’ll open up a little more! If you’re someone who stands in front of a class, reads the words that are on the board or the screen, and stands around for the rest of the hour, people feel that, too.

This personality trait of mine has lead me to surround myself with like-minded individuals. Another crazy concept, huh? The difference for me, is that those people over the last decade or so have tended to be in the CrossFit world. Seven years ago, when I really started to dive into this “sport” of ours (that wasn’t even called a sport yet), I met friends in CrossFit through competing. Local throw-downs started popping up more frequently, many of my friends trained CrossFit too, and these events became as much about camaraderie as they did fitness. At one point, I think I knew 90% of the gym owners in town, and it was great!

We would work out together often, share stories about what was good or bad in the gyms where we trained, and use each other as legitimate resources. THAT is what’s fun for me. Sharing Best Practices with other people who are either in your industry or have transferrable skills that also apply to your line of work is so great. Usually in these conversations, it’s not one person talking AT the other. Instead, it’s one person saying “here’s what we do,” and the other one replying with something like, “that’s interesting, here’s what we do.” A normal chat can literally open up one’s perspective through simply sharing life experiences. Too often I’ve seen gym owners, trainers, athletes, reach a certain point in their careers and basically stop caring. They just go through the motions because it’s all they’ve done for years, and it’s not FUN for them anymore. If you’re always learning, you’re always growing!

This morning, I had an awesome conversation with someone (a friend of a friend) I’ve known for years, but never actually met in person. The purpose of the call was literally just to learn! I asked what he did to train his staff, we shared stories about our experiences in CrossFit, and when the call was over, I had a smile on my face from ear to ear. It felt so good to connect with someone and not have the expectation that either of us needed THE answer to any one question. That’s the stuff that gets me fired up and excited.

The other day on Facebook I shared a quote that I heard from a friend of mine in my first job out of college: “Your Network is your Net Worth.” It rang so true in my head then, and it still does today. Why not surround yourself with people who when you leave their presence you feel good? My “CrossFit Network” makes me feel that way. Dropping in at gyms across the country and around the world, I feel as though I could walk in the door at so many places, and immediately feel “at home” with them. That’s pretty special, and probably my favorite part of it of this community of ours.

If anyone out there wants to set up some time to chat about fitness/training, diet/nutrition, or anything of the sort, let’s do it! It’s so cool to share stories and learn from each other.

Oh my…… he’s done it. He’s finally done it. SOMEONE has finally created an effective ratio calculator for the Olympic Lifts, and some of their accessory counterparts.

If you known anything about Olympic Weightlifting in the United States, then you know the name Sean Waxman. A coach for nearly 25 years, he has owned and run Waxman’s Gym for the last 6+ years. The lifters that he has produced through his experience, his coaches on staff, and his personal style have gone on to produce great results at the national and international level, and has also helped train some of the top athletes in the CrossFit game.

When I saw some of my “high-profile” friends on Facebook share a link this morning, I didn’t think it could actually be what the Title of the post claimed, but it is!

You, the lifter, plug in your max Snatch and Clean and Jerk numbers. Then, based on what information you have you can also put in certain supplemental lifts or variations, for your Snatch (Overhead Squat, Power Snatch, Snatch Blocks Abv Knee, and Hang Snatch Below Knee) and your Clean and Jerk (Clean, Back Squat, Front Squat, Jerk, Clean Blocks Abv Knee, Hang Clean Below Knee). From that info, an INCREDIBLE summary of your lifts, along with feedback on ways to improve them.

Example, here are my numbers:

First it asked for my current lifetime PR’s for the two Olympic Lifts

Next, the variations of the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. You don’t NEED to have any of these, so I put in the ones I was fairly confident were correct

After that…. you click the “Evaluate Me” button. Complicated, huh?

The next part is where you get all of your feedback and suggestions. First, it shows the variance from your 1RM lifts, to the other variations and movements for each

I am a very visual person, so this was fun to see. However, by themselves, the graphs don’t mean too much. Here’s what followed

The site begins by specifically referencing the ratio between your snatch and clean and jerk. Then it goes on to give you a diagnosis and some suggestions on how to strengthen the supplemental movements to make yourself either stronger, more balanced, or perhaps more well-rounded in general.

This site is SO cool, and I think that every lifter and coach should reference it as a key resource to help identify key areas for improvement!

Before you read on, let me state that I am most certainly not an “Outdoorsman.” I don’t own my own tent, I don’t know the proper way to boil water to make it safe to drink, I’ve never hoisted a “Bear Bag” up in a tree while I slept, and I’ve never hiked more than 7 hours in a day. That said, none of those facts mean that I don’t seriously respect and appreciate those who are well-versed in the vast world of Mother Nature!

The video that’s posted below came across my News Feed today and I was immediately sucked in. It’s a story by Peter H., who “took a plane from Vienna, Austria to California to hike the Pacific Crest Trail – a 2650 miles footpath from Mexico to Canada” back in 2016. Of course, the trip didn’t go as planned, and he was met with both mental and physical road blocks along the way, but in the end… *SPOILER ALERT* he makes it safe and sound.

Being out amidst the elements, humans quickly realize just how out of control we are in so many ways in this world. This experience was no different for the filmmaker. However, through the kindness and friendship of others, a determination to complete the task at hand, and the ability to find the positive side of things, the mission was accomplished! Sounds like the way I try to help others see their own lives every day! 🙂

Enjoy the video below, and let me know what you think. Could you do that hike?

“Open Gym”, the part of my blog where I get to share my real thoughts on all things gym. I haven’t always been brutally honest with how I feel about things for fear of “offending” people, but I’m in a place now where I can speak as freely as I’d like… and it feels good!

When I started CrossFit almost NINE years ago (this August), I immediately adopted the mindset that this fitness “fad” was all about community. Sure, a person can get insanely fit by doing it, but more than the PRs, this was a medium through which communities could be formed and sustained on love and support alone. I LOVED that from Day 1.

The best way that a stranger could have seen this first-hand would have been to walk into nearly any gym on any given day. The clock counts down, the coach yells, “3, 2, 1… GO!”, the athletes get after it…. and then everyone finishes the workout at the same time. Well, not really, but when the fastest people would finish they’d do their own patented CrossFit “My-Life-Is-Over/I-Cant-Believe-I-Made-It” flop onto the ground, they’d roll around for a few seconds, and then something amazing would happen – They’d pick themselves up off of the floor and go over to support the remaining athletes in the class.

It was never taught. Coaches never needed to ASK the class to cheer each other on. It just happened. Why? Because CrossFit was all about embracing the suck. It didn’t matter if you lifted 200lbs more than the person next to you, completed 8 more rounds than them during that 12 minute AMRAP, or whether your last rep was done 6 minutes before theirs. You had all done the same thing, something that any practitioner of this “sport” could relate to, and you never wanted to leave a teammate behind.

That didn’t mean there needed to be fanfare or a loud cheering section for the last person every day. In fact, some people don’t like being the center of attention at all. That wasn’t the point, though. Dragging your butt over to their side of the gym and leaning back against the wall to help them finish those last 20 reps of Wall Balls meant a lot. It showed that your beer at happy hour with friends could wait another 5 minutes. And most of all, it meant that the person who was still working could feel just as important as the gym’s resident “fire breather.” Because they are just as important.

Too often now, in too many gyms, I see people finish their workouts, put away their stuff, log their scores, and bounce.

It’s true that there are some INCREDIBLE and inspiring athletes all over the world, but they’re not always the ones topping the leaderboard each day. As someone who feels he got into the CrossFit game fairly early, a second-generation “OG” if you will, I can say that if you don’t know the names of the people in your class, or care to learn them, that you should try to change that. I’m not asking introverts to become extroverts. I’m not suggesting that everyone in the gym needs to be best friends. What I am saying is that feeling like you’re a part of a family when you go to the gym makes every single part of the community more meaningful.

Next time you’re in-between sets during strength, or as people awkwardly shuffle around to put their clips and weights back after class, take a few seconds and introduce yourself to someone new. Ask what they thought sucked the most during that WOD. If you do know everyone in the class, discuss the pacing strategy a friend used for that chipper workout you just finished. Or if nothing else, at least offer that friendly and supportive fist bump, high five, or bro-hug.

I can promise most people that your life will be better by being “that person” who genuinely starts to care about others in the best way possible. If you give it a shot, I would love to hear how it goes for you. Do you notice a difference in any aspect of your gym life? Life outside of the gym?

At my age, people either LOVE sports, or don’t really care for them. That said, I believe most of us can agree that playing sports during childhood can have an incredibly positive impact on a person’s life. Just as activities such as learning to play an instrument or studying a language can teach discipline, attention to detail, and the value of consistency in practice, many sports can also teach invaluable skills like teamwork and effective communication (among many other things).

Why is that relevant? A few nights ago while I was watching an NHL Playoff game (that’s hockey for those of you who don’t know), I had kind of an epiphany. My favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, was playing their bitter rivals in Game 3 of a best-of-seven series. They were down 2 goals with only 2 minutes left to play in the game. For a lot of folks, that deficit simply seemed too much to overcome in such a small amount of time. You could see some people getting up and leaving their seats to try and beat the rush, assuming the game was over and we had lost. Lo and behold, the Penguins put on an incredible offensive display and scored TWO goals in under two minutes. The crowd that remained was electrified, I was screaming at the TV, and they managed to push the game into Overtime! Unfortunately the Penguins lost in OT, but that’s not the point!

The parallel to this game that I immediately made to our every day lives is this:

Fairly often, we might feel that we’re in a slump in life (personally, professionally, spiritually,… anything, really), or that our hard work isn’t paying off as we’d like. Most of the time I find it important to remember the next breakthrough could literally be around the corner. I’ve experienced this with friendships, fitness, and many other areas of life. Frustrated with squats? Stick to your 12 week program, rest and fuel appropriately, and let the results speak for themselves.

Positive change doesn’t happen when you want it to happen, positive change happens when you put in the appropriate amount of work. Instead of basing your “success” on the end result alone, try your best to enjoy the PROCESS. In retrospect, the process will be the most rewarding part anyways!

I heard some really sad news today. While doing my normal morning scan of Facebook, my buddy Jason who is the one of the most active “mountaineers/back country explorers” I know, shared a link to an article talking about the death of Ueli Steck.

Now for most people, that name probably doesn’t ring a bell (even though it should). But for me, it hit a bit closer to home because I had been following Ueli’s, or the “Swiss Machine” as he was called, unbelievable mountain adventures ever since seeing the video below years ago!

I am pretty far from a daredevil and am mildly afraid of heights, so when I watched what he did I was completely shocked. First of all, why would someone WANT to climb the Eiger? Then, why would they want to do it as fast as they possibly could? Finally….. and this is the one that floored me most, why would someone choose to do this as a Free Solo climb?! That means he didn’t have any support ropes, harnesses, or protective gear. Yeah, Ueli climbed the 13,000+ ft. peak in the middle of “Winter Season” alone and with absolutely no supplemental safety equipment!

Every time an “extreme athlete” passes away doing something they love, I’m usually left with a myriad of emotions. While it’s always sad when a life is lost, there are a lot of people who say, “At least they went doing what they love.” That doesn’t mean I want to die eating a pizza just because I like doing that, but I see their point. While activities like sky diving or climbing mountains can be seen as “unsafe” by some, most of the athletes who choose to partake in these sports do their research, prepare for as many contingencies as they can, and accept that if things go wrong they would rather accept the consequences versus not taking the risk in the first place. That’s the exact reason why those activities aren’t for everyone.

Ueli inspired hundreds if not thousands of people with his accomplishments alongside mother nature. While his death is unbelievably sad, I hope his legacy will continue to live on forever. Rest in peace, sir.

Virtuosity is a word that gets thrown around in CrossFit a lot. It’s generally referred to as

“performing the common uncommonly well.” Today, I’m sharing to videos of people who embody that word.

I think Ive posted this before, but it’s worth sharing again. Séan Garnier is a freak! Just look at this control. The next time you’re near a soccer ball, just try ONE of these tricks. So cool to watch!

Also, how is this a thing? I’m still partially convinced that this is a fake video, haha.